The absence of The River and Sky Highway in reprints is one of those gaping holes in the narrative that does a disservice to Volume 1. Not just because they're genuinely good stories, but for what they added to the character arcs for the cast that were further developed in the in-house Mirage stuff. Without The River and Sky Highway, all the subtext about Casey and his infatuation with his Chevy during City at War gets lost. And the aforementioned Sons of the Silent Age directly references The River and is a sequel to it with Raph's storyline. Reading Vol. 1 without Veitch's issues is like reading a novel with a chapter missing.

North by Downeast isn't as vital as those two, but I just love that miniseries and it's probably the least seen of Veitch's TMNT contributions. I mean, I still find his Vol. 1 issues in the bins at cons for cheap prices, so they're out there and available, but his Casey Jones miniseries pops up much less often and is tougher to come by.

I disagree; for me, it doesn't feel separated at all or even that drastically different in tone. It FEELS like an integral part of Volume 1, and other standout issues treated it as such.

But that's the only thing I disagree with; it's an awesome little set of issues.

One reason I feel this way is the dialogue between the turtles. I can't recall other issues where they address eachother as "Brother Michelangelo!" or "Brother Raphael". It's subtle but seems starkly different from the usual way they address eachother.
The other thing is his stories often deal with mythical aspects. You see this in other TMNT stories as well, but I guess, for me, it's just a certain mood he seems to set.

I love Veitch's stories for the record and I do think they fit in with volume 1 as well as anything else. Especially due to the reference in "SOTSA". They have a unique flavor, and that's a good thing. Again, that's just my opinion.

My favorite thing about Veitch TMNT are those amazing covers for "The River". In my mind, issue #26's cover is completely iconic.

I really do hope his stuff gets reprinted some day. A lot of new readers missed out on his stuff.

I think it's easy to forget that most of these Mirage or now Image reprints are brand new to like 70% of the current readers nowadays. Outside of places like here or some other old fans, the vast majority of current fans never read any of these old Mirage stories before. It's why it's a shame if they don't get a chance to read everything. These reprints are mostly aimed at new readers as much as old fans.

One reason I feel this way is the dialogue between the turtles. I can't recall other issues where they address eachother as "Brother Michelangelo!" or "Brother Raphael". It's subtle but seems starkly different from the usual way they address eachother.
The other thing is his stories often deal with mythical aspects. You see this in other TMNT stories as well, but I guess, for me, it's just a certain mood he seems to set.

I love Veitch's stories for the record and I do think they fit in with volume 1 as well as anything else. Especially due to the reference in "SOTSA". They have a unique flavor, and that's a good thing. Again, that's just my opinion.

My favorite thing about Veitch TMNT are those amazing covers for "The River". In my mind, issue #26's cover is completely iconic.

Looking at the cover has me thinking - How cool would it be for Kevin and Peter to finish off the Mirage timeline with a few issues of "Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" as the title.

It'd feel pretty weird for Kevin to jump into Vol. 4. That said, Peter wrapping up Vol. 4 with a few issues and THEN Peter and Kevin together doing some kind of Vol. 5 maxi-series... wow. That would be beyond imagination.

It'd feel pretty weird for Kevin to jump into Vol. 4. That said, Peter wrapping up Vol. 4 with a few issues and THEN Peter and Kevin together doing some kind of Vol. 5 maxi-series... wow. That would be beyond imagination.

True, volume 4 would need to be taken care of first. I just love the idea of having the original title come back.

Plots by Laird
Layouts by Eastman
Script and pencils by Lawson
Inks by Talbot
Lettering by Lavigne
Covers by Dooney!

Let's get the band back together for a V4 conclusion

Fantastic team. My only concern would be not knowing if Lawson’s current style would show off the dynamic movement and action that Kevin’s layouts are capable of. Whenever I read “RTNY” part 1, I’m reminded that Kevin truly has “the chops”, and his reputation is earned.

Love both Eastman and Lawson though so I’d definitely want them there. An ideal team for sure.

I remember hearing about this back in November or December of last year. I'm super psyched that it's actually happening. The Image run is the first run I bought when it was originally being put out.

This is great news!

Oh, and count me in as far as wanting The River reprinted as well. Those issues are quintessential TMNT lore. I think I still have my old TPB of it somewhere around here... It might be at my parents' place.

Hell, Veitch's run of Swamp Thing is what got me into the character. It's a shame that legal situation is the way it is. Viacom should just give him the money he wants and print his work. I can't imagine he wants all that much money -- It's probably just a drop in the bucket to Viacom.

So I just reread most of the run this weekend, and I have to say, it really goes downhill near the end. Crude and dated dialogue, exposition out the wahoo, and just some awkward character work. And how often do characters really need to go on beer runs? Felt forced.

I'm almost willing to chalk this up to rushed deadlines and a never-ending feeling of looming cancellation that the writers were under, because I went back to the first several issues after and they read much better. Hoping the conclusion will be the best of the run.

As a fellow fan of the series, do you have any feelings on how it progressed? Maybe it's just me, but I read from about #18 onwards, not really enjoying it much, but went back to the first several issues after and even the pencils appeared more detailed and the panel layouts more creative. Seems like there was an initial boost of adrenaline that wore off by the end. The series literally started off with a bang.
I really enjoyed the few pages we got in the 30th anniverssary issue though, despite the limited and basic nature of the story. Hoping for more of that.

And I like beer as much as anyone else. I even love "you had to be there", the story where Mikey is drunk as hell. But this reads like a 13 year old trying to bring up beer as much as possible, in order to make his story seem more adult.

Also there are cringey lines of exposition like "Mommy April wants you, daddy!" ....."Mommy April?" Kids don't say that. Find a different way to let the audience know that April is the mom.

Then there's "Call me Lady Shredder! Though I'm not very lady-like!" or Raphael calling Mikes girlfriend "retarded" leading Mikey to insinuate that he received a blowjob from her.

I love a lot about this series. Especially as a piece of TMNT-history, for how far out and unique it is. It just really struck me that the series isn't as great as I once thought. At least the later issues. Still, as I said, I'm greatly looking forward to seeing the issues in color, reading the conclusion, and hopefully picking up a hardcover omnibus of the series.

So I just reread most of the run this weekend, and I have to say, it really goes downhill near the end. Crude and dated dialogue, exposition out the wahoo, and just some awkward character work. And how often do characters really need to go on beer runs? Felt forced.

I'm almost willing to chalk this up to rushed deadlines and a never-ending feeling of looming cancellation that the writers were under, because I went back to the first several issues after and they read much better. Hoping the conclusion will be the best of the run.

I don't know about the dialogue being crude, but the wonky exposition DID subtract from some of the later issues.